animation attempts...

Scott Jones · Post by **Scott Jones** » Sat Jul 20, 2002 1:33 am

I'm doing a little messing around with some stop motion. the scene I am doing is with a bendable felix the cat toy about 5 or 6 inches tall with limbs that can bend and stay in place. anyway, i want to film him outside running towards the camera down the sidewalk with the camera moving at the same speed. i'm thinking of setting up the camera on a mini tripod set up on a longboard. any suggestions on how to make it look like a smooth dolly shot?
thanks,
~Scott

Post by **focusgroup** » Fri Jul 26, 2002 9:15 pm

You may want to consider shooting greenscreen for the stop motion and shoot seperate footage for the dolly shot. You could then composite the stop motion into the dolly shot. Of course you may have a problem with matching the green screen footage with your dolly shot.

Which brings us to using software programs for match movement like boujou. Its to friggin expensive for the likes of me at least (I think around 10K). I use commotion Pro however for motion tracking and it works fantastic for simple or complex 2D motion. Its only where you get into three D that problems really crop up.

Good Luck

scott jones · Post by **scott jones** » Sun Jul 28, 2002 2:56 am

thanks for the info. I'll see what I can do. I just like to experiment and i'm getting tired of my animations all having a stationary camera so i am trying to expand my skills.
~Scott

Post by **StopMoWorks** » Sun Jul 28, 2002 7:13 am

One variation ...... Do Not show the actual feet of the puppet, so it would perhaps be a medium-long shot. Get a large skate board (it is lower to the floor than a mini-tripod) ..... fix puppet on one end of board then on the other end, attach your super 8 cam to it. The entire board can be moved backwards. Then, you animate the puppet to make it "appear" it is running towards camera, but the puppet is actually "stationary" and just running in place (like treadmill effect). From the Camera POV, you will not see the skateboard platform or the puppet's feet, so the illusion will be of the camera, tracking with puppet as it's running forward and you will see the background whizzing by. It might have a very cinema verite, rough & shakey look because the side walk is not smooth and there might be a few bumps & shakes as skateboard rolls over sidewalk/surface..... but it might look cool.

LIO

Post by **DriveIn** » Sun Jul 28, 2002 8:04 am

Try model railroad train tracks and a flat car. You can add or remove sections of track to keep the rails out of camera shot. Duct tape or epoxy the rails to the sidewalk as needed to keep them from being bumped out of position. Make sure they assemble and pull apart easy so you don't have to jerk the tracks to get them out of the camera shot.